Untold Arsenal: Supporting the club, the manager and the team
"I believe the target of anything in life should be to do it so well that it becomes an art." A Wenger
Let me explain that headline. Arsenal, being an open club, all above board, honest and thoroughly middle class, there’s nothing to hide. Unlike some north western clubs we aren’t late with our reporting of our figures, and unlike most clubs we make a profit and don’t hide behind multiple company structures. But that is not …
By Walter Broeckx We are late in September; the season has been going for some 6 weeks. Time for a first overview. Are we doing better than last year or not? The best way to make a comparison is to see at the games from last year and same games this season. Our opening game …
It is interesting that few if any of our so-called journalists are doing a compare and contrast job on Arsenal’s wealth and the abject poverty of football clubs like Liverpool and Manchester U. It is as if saving money, planning, and making money legitimately (rather than through usury) is now bad news in the UK. …
Arsenal play host to Olympiacos, the Greek champions, on Tuesday evening. The Greek outfit, who played out a 1-0 victory over the final member of Group H AZ Alkmaar, are managed by Brazilian legend Zico, who has been in the post since mid-September after spells managing in Turkey and Russia. The previous manager was removed …
PS: Yes I know you don’t normally have a PS at the start, but this is a long article and I doubt anyone will get to the end, so here’s the PS. By chance I have a spare ticket for tuesday night’s game, upper tier, north end above Red Action. If you would like to …
Read More “Campbell, Vela, Cesc, lies: its “Ask a stupid question day””
If you think that Untold Arsenal is a load of old twaddle, the best thing to do is to stop reading. But if you think Untold Arsenal is rather jolly, then you really ought to be reading HIGHBURY HIGH as well – the only fan magazine that totally reflects the positive and rejects the negative. …
By Phil Gregory Fulham, Arsenal’s opponents in the late kick off today are managed by the likeable Roy Hodgson and the well-travelled Fulham manager is highly regarded by Wenger, who hailed him as being “the best English manager” in a recent press conference (Mark Hughes take note). Indeed, the ex-Malmo boss has overseen an enormous …
Read More “Fulham v Arsenal: a somewhat more serious analysis”
And so it is Fulham who come under the spotlight of “All Tomorrow’s Parties” – the historic (not to say hysterical) analysis of future events named after a Velvet Underground hit. (Exciting isn’t it?) Fulham: who last season caused all the posts of, “This is exactly what I feared would happen” from the people who …
Read More “Fulham Arsenal: full report and score, hours before it happens”
Yesterday the stories about Liverpool flowed around like a dark murky flowing thing you would not want to put your hand in. We knew that the owners were trying in utter desperation to do something, anything, that would allow them to refinance the £350.5m of debts six months ago. We now know from leaked papers …
Read More “Liverpool: the financial collapse and what the papers did not say”
So having spent a day arguing about when people were signed and the value of our youth system, the Lord Wenger now tells us it is all going to be pulled to bits by the new FIFA plans to limit transfers of players under 18. Our Great Leader pointed out that we have the “90-minutes” …
As Adam Smith pointed out yesterday, you couldn’t watch last night’s game on any sort of TV system anywhere south of Pluto. In fact if you tried BBC radio you would have found that in the summary half hour from 10 to 10.30 (when a couple of extra times were going on) the match actually …
This is it: the big one for the little one’s. Or “le grand un pour les petits” as they don’t say in foreign parts. Who can ever forget one year ago? There was the memory of the fact that our little guys (with one or two biggies) had a year before smashed Liverpool at their …
Read More “Arsenal v The Wobbleyous. The result before it happens”
By Phil Gregory West Brom, managed by Roberto Di Matteo (formerly of MK Dons) are Arsenal’s opponents in the Carling Cup on Tuesday. They will undoubtedly be coming into this match on a wave of confidence, having beaten Middlesborough 5-0 at the Riverside, and holding a one point lead over Newcastle at the top of …
Read More “Arsenal v WBA: the style, approach, players, prediction”
There are sounds and signs around that things are improving – but, beware the false dawn. Since I started wandering around the by-ways of football in this blog I’ve been moaning about rotational fouling (Wigan are the latest to adopt it), and it is cheery to note that the Great Lord Wenger is now “set” …
Read More “When the FA hand a corruption file over to FIFA you know football is out of control”
I think I might be getting too old for this football commentary lark, because it is only now that the magnitude of the Lord Wenger’s achievement is starting to hit me in the face. I should have had faith in what I saw at the Celtic game – but I got no further than, “I …
If you have not come across “Talk like a pirate day” before, or indeed if you are not resident in England, it may come as a bit of a shock that there is such a thing. But there is, and it has been around for about 10 years – go to http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html if you don’t …
Arsenal vs Wigan: team news, injuries, tactics, prognosis By Phil Gregory Wigan Athletic, Arsenal’s opponents on Saturday, arrive at the Emirates Stadium on the back of their first home win of the season against West Ham. Roberto Martinez, Wigan’s manager since the departure of Steve Bruce to Sunderland, has undertaken wholesale changes at the club. …
Two financial stories turned up last week – both affecting the EPL but neither making it onto the football pages. The new story concerns our old chums, West Iceland United (4 stops from Barking), and it furthered rumours that have been circulating for months and months. First the background. When Icelandic banks went bust the …
Being in Liège yesterday it was a great result for us. By Walter Broeckx The trip from the Benelux gooners took us the “hot city”. The stadium is situated next to the river Meuse and looks nice from the outside but the seats reserved for the visitors have never been cleaned since the Euro 2000 …
Disgusting, disgraceful, appalling, shameful: I speak of course of the coverage on Sky Sports last night. There was a moment of amusement before the game when Redknapp-the-Younger started to talk about why UEFA was so biased (in this case against English clubs) and the chairbeing nearly fell off his chair, chuffling like a steam train, …
As usual Phil has done an excellent, well-researched piece which tells us all we need to know (see last post if you haven’t read it – you really can’t watch the match without it). Which naturally allows me a chance to do my usual jink around the fringes of reality and consider the delicate matter …
Read More “Royal Standard de Liège: the result before it happens”
Editor’s note: this article was forwarded by Phil to Untold Arsenal yesterday, before the extent of the injury list was fully known. Since the article was written we’ve heard that Van Persie is out injured. Standard Liege v Arsenal: form, injuries, key players, line-ups By Phil Gregory. Standard Liege, Belgian champions for the last two …
Read More “Standard Liege v Arsenal: form, injuries, key players, line-ups”
Starting next season all EPL clubs will have to name 25 players over 21 before the season begins as their registered players list. Eight of those players must have been developed for at least three years by an English or Welsh club before their 21st birthday. The clubs can also have a limitless list of …
Read More “Wenger’s genius revealed as clubs face new “home grown” rule”
So, yesterday the Corruption Files took a sneak look at the governing bodies. Now we move on to someone they employ. When Fabio Capello turned up in England he was known as a man with a bit of a murky financial history. Not quite on Icelandic levels, but still, a little bit racey, if you …
Read More “CORRPUTION FILES 2: Capello, tax evasion, perjury etc”
The organisation running the top league in English football has a long history of corruption – dating back at least to 1919 when Manchester United and Liverpool, who had been found guilty of match fixing in the final pre-war season were allowed to go unpunished and continue unhindered. Arsenal benefitted from the final outcome of …
